Screaming Infidelities
by Tragedy Tay
Summary: SethSummer: Shiny, expensive things can go a long way.


For Emily. In other words, blame her.

Title: Screaming Infidelities

Summary: Using words that are definitely not G-rated entirely too much, Summer rants about love, Cohen's jerkish tendancies, and The Valley, because it's, like, the best show EVER! Then it gets cheesy.

Pairing: SethSummer. Pretty, pretty SethSummer lyrics make brief appearences.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

AN: I switch tenses throughout. I do that. In other news, CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE. So cheesy. SO cheesy. I was actually eating a grilled cheese sandwich when I wrote this.

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_I'm having trouble sleeping,  
you're jumping in my bed,  
twisting in my head.  
Leave me..._

_-The Perishers_

Asshole. Asshole. Asshole.

She screamed into her pillow for a few minutes, before closing her eyes, and rolling over. Damn Cohen. She hated him. So very, very, extremely, überly much. She just hates him. She's not secretly in love with him, she's not using hate to mask her inner feelings. She really hates him, and is not opposed to killing him, except for the fact that if she did, she would probably get blood all over her shoes.

Ew.

And sure, there might still be some little part of her that wants to drive to his house, race up his entirely-too-long staircase, shove him against his bedroom wall, and ravage him right there.

And sure, that little part might be kind of big.

That doesn't change the fact that swift death would be too fast for him.

Yes, she still has those stupid fantasies she's been having for over a year now. Of course, half of those fantasies are of her beating him up, or him begging on his knees for forgiveness, which she is not at all averse to. And okay, maybe that's a little drastic, but still. He could have at least said he was _sorry_.

If only he wasn't such an asshole.

And if only Zach wasn't there, which was pretty much how you could describe him. There.

And if only she wasn't so fucking stubborn.

She is far to stubborn to admit to her stubborness, however, so she sticks to insulting him, and having her naughtly little thoughts in private.

_At the most I'm a glare,  
I'm the hopeless son who's hardly there.  
I'm the open sign that's always busted.  
I'm the friend you need, but can't be trusted._

_-Patrick Park_

She glanced at the wall, at her 2004 _The Valley_ calender. First she smiled at the picture. Jake and Vanessa's first kiss. She was amazed it had been included at all, they usually focused on Nate and Melanie, and Summer could. Not. Stand. Melanie.

Plus, Nate should be smart enough not to deal with Melanie's shit all the time. Stupid fucking asshole Nate. He was totally hot, and he couldn't not like Melanie. Stupid, stupid Melanie. She probably eats babies, or something.

Jake and Vanessa were much better. At least they had chemistry, and the girl who played Vanessa, April, was, like, the best thing on that show, and Grady and April had so much chemistry, it was insane, which Summer atributed to them getting back together, and _finally _going public five months before.

She remembered that day very well. She'd been in her computer arts class, and had been looking online while the teacher babbled about graphics. She'd checked out a few sites, and there had been Grady and April, kissing. KISSING! In like, _public_!

She'd barely been able to contain her shriek of joy, by which she means, not at all. She'd gotten detention, but when she told Cohen, he'd let out a similar, albeit quieter, squeal, and then he'd kissed her.

And that kiss was one that stuck with her. It was just so...simple. Just a little kiss. Something supremely awesome had happened, and he'd kissed her, like it was just the most natural thing in the world.

It was interesting. Just...just very, very interesting.

Then, when some assholes looked over to see what they were yelling about, and (of course) checked out Summer, Cohen noticed, glared, and put his arm "protectively, not possesively, Summer!" around his lay-dee.

And that was kind of cute.

Too bad Cohen had to go and be a prick. She'd kind of liked him.

_And I feel the way I feel _

_Because I need you all the time._

_And I know all the things you know,_

_But that's just not enough to make you mine..._

_-Sneakers 2 Bombs_

Finally The Valley and Cohen kisses faded from her thoughts, and she glanced down at the actual date. December 23rd. Not one of her favorite days. Besides the fact that Wonderwhore immortalized that day, it was also the day that her father married the stepmonster, five years ago. At least she could probably count on them being gone for the rest of the day. Unfortuately, so were Marissa and Zach, so she was left at home, cursing everyone she could name in her life's existance, with anyone whose last name began with C being the forerunners. School had let out three days ago, and everyone was on a trip, or spending time with their families. Which was not a concept she was all that familiar with.

She sighed, turned on the radio, and grabbed her bag, figuring that she might as well do the tiny amount of homework she'd gotten for Christmas break. After about ten minutes she reached into the pocket where she kept her gum, and pulled out something crinkly. She stared at it in confusion for a little while, before realizing what it was.

A second later she'd done a rather impressive flip backwards, and was screaming into her pillow again.

_I'm missing your laugh._

_How did it break?_

_And when did your eyes_

_Begin to look fake?_

_I hope you're as happy as you're pretending..._

_-Dashboard Confessional_

That stupid, crinkly thing was from him. Of course it was. She'd let him in on the Gum Pocket a long time ago, and before long he'd been keeping his Tootsie Rolls in there. So when she reached for gum she usually ended up with a handful of Tootsie Rolls. Which was annoying, but not so annoying that it was actually annoying, it was annoying in a way that made it tolerably annoying, and kind of cutely annoying, although still annoying.

Summer reviewed this thought, and wondered if perhaps she was schizo.

Anyway.

The crinkly thing was a tiny package, carefully wrapped in blue paper with menorahs all over it, and tied with red ribbons that had Christmas trees on them.

So yeah. No question.

She stared at it for a few seconds, then carefully edged her way around it, back to her bag. She dug around for a note, finally surfacing one. Smiling in success, she opened it.

_Happy Chrismukkuh, Summer. I got you an actual present this year.-Seth. Or Cohen. Or whatever. Enjoy._

Asshole.

_The best DJ's are saving_

_The slowest song for last._

_When the dance is through,_

_It's me and you._

_Come on, would it really be so bad?_

_-Jimmy Eat World_

How the hell did he even get it into her bag? She has no classes with him, she didn't see him at all yesterday. He must have had someone else do it for him. Or else he could make a good living as a stalker. While contemplating this, she rolled over absentmindedly, and ended up falling flat on her face on the floor. Lovely. She groaned, and pulled herself up, and over to her mirror. She grimaced at the beginnings of a bruise on her cheek, and covered it up as best she could. It still showed up pretty well though. Great.

She turned away from that problem, and back towards the potentially bigger problem that was still lying on her bed. She wasn't exactly sure what to do with it. She could open it, but then again, she could throw it at his head.

Decisions.

But, it was a present, and Summer's willpower was...well, powerless when confronted with a present. She always knew what she was getting for her birthday and Christmas weeks in advance, she had a lot of trouble waiting, and her house (and Marissa's) weren't _that _big.

Besides, people should fucking hide things better.

So Summer ripped of the paper eagerly, and something shiny fell onto her bed. A necklace. A gorgeous, silver necklace, made of what seemed like thousands of tiny, interlocking squares, so shiny it glinted as she held it up. She immedietely fell in love.

Not with Cohen, with the _necklace_.

It was very pretty, after all.

So, of course she had to put it on. And then look at herself. For a while. Because, hi, pretty! And it glinted so brightly, that your eyes didn't immedietely go to the bruise. So that was another plus.

Of course, she couldn't keep it. Zach would ask her where she got it, and she was NOT about to give Cohen the satisfaction of seeing her wear it. But still. Maybe sometimes...No!

ASSHOLE!

God, why can't he just leave her the hell alone? It's not enough he fucked her over royally five months ago? It's not enough that he fucking CONTINUES TO DO SO? GOD! She really did need to kill him. Or at the very least, wound him. Or kill him. Or kill him. Kill him had the majority.

She dug into her bag for her keys, and was out the door in two minutes.

_It's never over,_

_My kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder.  
It's never over, _

_All my riches for her smiles._

_-Jeff Buckley_

Seth was staring at a bug that was walking across his wall. He had been for the last half hour, and he planned on doing it for the next half hour as well, because Ryan was with Lindsay in the pool house, and Summer was probably fucking Zach in her room, and Marissa was with The Sexy (Not) Help, and he'd even called Portland, but Luke was out with Katie. And Seth was in his room.

Watching a bug. Not dating a girl. Not even dating a bug. Watching a bug.

He hoped it was at least a girl bug.

Then he hoped that he would live through the next half hour.

Because his door slammed open, and Summer stalked in, and smacked him across his chest. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"What?"

"Cohen!" She had a death glare. This probably wouldn't end well.

"You found the necklace," he asked, noticing it glinting on her neck. It looked good on her. He was glad. He'd waited a long time to give it to her, he'd bought it in Catalina on a whim. He'd held onto it because it reminded him of her. All sparkly.

Summer looked down. and noticed the necklace. She'd forgotten she was even wearing it, and she pulled it off and threw it at his head. She missed. Damn. "Why the fuck would you give that to me, Cohen? What good did you possibly think could come out of it?"

"I thought you'd like it. It's pretty." He smiled at her weakly, and she stared at him.

"You need to leave me alone," she muttered, staring at him sadly.

"Summer...I can't just forget all about this. You, us, whatever. I can't. It's not that simple."

_You're mixing me up now,_

_you're pulling my teeth out,_

_wishing my arguments away._

_I'll follow direction,_

_I'll stick to your reasons._

_This isn't the season to go running away..._

_-Sneakers 2 Bombs_

He stared at her, and for the second time since he came back, he said it. "I love you."

"Nope. No way" She shook her head and moved back about four feet. "You don't."

"Summer, yes, I like the chase. I do. Because you know what? It's fun." He took one big step forward, closing the space between them. "But I _love _you."

She closed her eyes as tight as she could, and a tear leaked out in sheer frustration. "Cohen...I can't do this again. It's not..."

"Not what, Summer? Worth it?"

"No..."

"What then?" He watched her, impatient, waiting.

"I don't _know_. I don't know why I can't do this."

"Can't or won't?" He looked a little mad.

"Cohen, you have no right to walk in and out of my life whenever you want. You had no right before, you have no right to want me back now."

"I know! I know, okay? I just...Summer, when I look at you, I just..." He stared at her in desperation. "I need you. I need to be able to talk to you, I need to be able to kiss you, I need to be able to tell you how I feel. And I'm sorry, but I can't not want that. I can't not want _you_."

"God, Cohen! You just..."

He looked at her face. "Hey, what happened to your cheek?" But she wasn't listening.

She remembered something. "Zach-"

Seth's hands clenched into fists, and his cheeks reddened. "I'll kill him," he told her, and took two steps towards the door before she called him back.

"Cohen! Zach didn't do that."

"Well, what happened? Do I need to have someone killed? Or whacked, as they say. My grandpa could probably take care of that, you know."

"I fell off my bed, Cohen." He snorted, and then started some very suspicious coughing.

Summer stared at him. She stared at him for a very long time. During which a huge shift in the space-time continum must have occured, because she smiled at him. "I like the necklace."

"What?"

"The necklace. I like it. I really do. It's a good present."

"Um...Good?" He looked at her quizically, waiting for her next move. She waited too. She wasn't sure exactly what to do. So she walked over to where she threw the necklace, and put it back on. She walked back to him, and looked into his eyes for a full thirty seconds. And she saw stuff. She saw that he was sorry. She saw that he was telling the truth. She saw that Cohen was still Cohen. And she remebered how much she needed a little Cohen in her life. And for the first time in five and a half months, everything made perfect sense. She smiled at him for a second, before shaking her head.

"This is stupid," she informed him.

And then she kissed him. "Merry Christmas, Cohen," she said as she pulled back, smiling.

"Happy Hanukkah," he whispered, his voice trying hard to mask disbelief. And then they kissed again. And again. And then they noticed that the bed was right there. So they put the bed to use. Because they may be a lot of things, but they are not wasteful.

And three hours later, they were both asleep. Well, he was asleep. She was being kept awake by the mysterious words he kept mumbling. "Crumbs...dogfrols...." She sighed. They still had a lot of shit to deal with. The Zach thing. The apology thing. The groveling thing. Most of it would not be fun. But they had time to do that later. They had lots of time. Right now, they could just sleep.

Seth rolled over, and breathed into her ear. "Wenus...pants..."

Summer stared at Seth for a full ten seconds. Then she curled up under his arm, and closed her eyes.

Sometimes she was much better off not knowing.

_It takes something more this time,  
Than sweet sweet lies,  
Before I open up my arms and fall.  
Losing all control.  
Every dream inside my soul.  
Won't you kiss me  
On that midnight street,  
Sweep me off my feet,  
Singing ain't this life so sweet..._

_-David Grey_

end.

AN: It would really help if, in your review, you could tell me what your favorite part was. Uness you're flaming, in which case, I will laugh hystaricaly, no matter what you say.


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